Chapter 307: Tide of Pain, Where Did This Pirated Version Come From (Requesting Monthly Passes, Part

Emperor's Tomb Mountain Range, Tian Yuan Node.

The battle ended, and Di Nian Evil Spirit began to doubt the very existence of the Beast.

As an Evil Spirit warrior under the Black Tide system, its growth rate was already the strongest sequence even in the Monster World.

It had always fought losing battles, only to reverse the situation into a winning one.

But those shameless Beast players had evolved again.

They had just unveiled a new Giant Beast tactical system, and now they had learned the power system of "Unity of the Many."

It was simply endless.

It had thought that obtaining the Demon Seed Rule would, even if it couldn't completely crush the Player Clan, at least make them feel a brief moment of despair.

The reality was, whether the players' minds had collapsed or not, he didn't know, but his own mind had exploded first.

The Black Tide did possess a power system of "Unity of the Many."

Black Tide energy was the most basic combat unit, capable of generating Evil Spirits at any time through aggregation.

The life form of each Evil Spirit was not as simple as addition; rather, through a new life structure, an Evil Spirit formed from 100 points of Black Tide energy could unleash several times the power.

This was essentially another manifestation of "Unity of the Many."

Now, the players had also mastered the relevant ability.

This meant that in future clashes, the players' tactical system would also be upgraded, raising the difficulty of confrontation once again.

It gave him the feeling that no matter how hard he tried, the players would always bite down hard behind him, impossible to shake off.

The joy brought by obtaining the Demon Seed Rule vanished completely after this battle.

Recalling the ambition he had when he first arrived in the Monster World, he now even found it somewhat ridiculous.

How long had it been, and they were still fighting the Player Clan versus the Insect Clan.

Which Evil Spirit warrior could be more miserable than him, ah!

In this battle, there was one more thing that made it extremely depressed.

The Demon Seed Rule could, by killing a target, extract their pain and evil thoughts, and convert them into Rule energy.

But the effect of this Rule could not work on players.

No matter how many players a Demon Seed warrior killed, it could not absorb even a single drop of Rule energy.

In fact, before the war started, it had considered that the Demon Seed Rule probably couldn't extract energy from players.

After all, if even the Black Tide couldn't devour players, how could the Demon Seed Rule possibly devour them?

Yet, a sliver of hope still remained in its heart.

After all, the Black Tide devoured matter and energy, but the Demon Seed Rule devoured emotions.

Perhaps the emotions of the Player Clan were energy that could be devoured, not protected by the potential mysterious Rules behind the Player Clan.

But the results of actual combat proved that the players' "stinginess" had reached the extreme, utterly unyielding.

What kind of Beast faction was this!

Just then, the voice of Xie Yan whispered in its ear:

"Di Nian, I think the pain and evil thoughts you have accumulated over these years while fighting the players, if used to kill with the Demon Seed Rule, should produce a vast amount of Rule energy."

"Shut up, you idiot eye."

Di Nian Evil Spirit turned sharply, its dark red pupils almost spitting fire, and the black mist around it churned violently with rage:

"Do you believe I'll kill you first!"

"I have no emotions; killing me with the Demon Seed Rule will yield nothing," Xie Yan muttered softly, then continued:

"Di Nian, you need to adjust your mood. The most important thing now is to use the Demon Seed Rule to create a special troop unique to you."

Glaring fiercely at Xie Yan, Di Nian Evil Spirit did not argue further with the eye, suppressing the surging emotions in its heart.

As Xie Yan said, the most important thing now was to continue upgrading the war system.

Combine the Demon Seed Rule with Black Tide power to forge a special troop legion unique to itself.

"Begin," it said in a deep voice.

Xie Yan nodded, then dragged Di Nian Evil Spirit's consciousness into the Destruction Palace.

This was the selection pool for Black Tide troops, where countless Evil Spirit statues stood.

Every statue was the initial template for an Evil Spirit troop, possessing a complete life structure and framework; one only needed to inject Black Tide energy to quickly form the corresponding Evil Spirit.

Inside the 28 Destruction Palaces, all Evil Spirit troop templates were stored.

The Black Tide troops it used were also selected within the Destruction Palaces, then downloaded to its own Xie Yan Gao Ta.

Beneath the ground of the Destruction Palace space, there were two additional special levels used for troop creation.

Back then, it had created the "Evil Spirit · Player" on the first underground level, intending to understand the Player Clan's secrets in detail through a infiltration plan, making full preparations for the coming war.

However, the infiltration plan was ruined by those Beast players as soon as it began, and it was even mocked by the Beast players of the Player Clan.

The reason it had analyzed was most likely that it could not connect to the players' internal communication network.

It had subsequently attempted to crack the players' internal mental communication channels, but to this day had not succeeded, and could not even perceive where the players' internal communication network was located.

Without dwelling further on the disgusting past regarding the players, Di Nian Evil Spirit devoted all its energy to the creation of troops.

Since it lacked permission to access the second underground level, it chose to conduct simulated troop creation in the first underground level space.

Xie Yan began continuously feeding various troop template information into its mind; many were already perfected life structure components that it could select and use.

But different Evil Spirit parts might not be compatible after generation, requiring constant adjustment during testing.

Before this, it had to consider what type of Evil Spirit troop it wanted to generate.

Troops serve war; the first thing it thought of was what the players' weakness was.

Although the Demon Seed Legion could completely bypass the players and develop in areas where other Evil Spirits like Ghost Fang were located, there was no need to clash stubbornly with the players.

But the war with the players was obviously still very long.

He must develop more abilities to counter the player system, or he will constantly be suppressed by players who grow suddenly and inexplicably.

Thinking of this, he already had a clear answer in his mind.

Replaying scene after scene of his battles with players, he began searching for their fatal weaknesses.

In fact, players have many weaknesses.

For example, greed—he specifically developed the Chest Tactics, which could effectively disrupt warfare.

But this tactic only worked on some players; elite player forces led by idiot commanders simply ignored Chest Tactics.

The psychological taunt tactic, however, remained consistently effective.

Player clans are emotional beings, easily entering a red-temperature state due to verbal provocation.

"You too."

"Shut up."

As for other flaws…

Amidst surging thoughts, two figures suddenly surfaced in Di Nian Xie Ling's mind.

These two figures used abilities unlike other players—they released pale red tentacles, and any life touched by the tentacles suffered extreme pain transmission.

He had suffered great losses against these two players.

Later, Xie Yan provided a solution: by reverse transmission, he redirected the incoming pain outward, completely resolving the beheading threat posed by these two player members.

Every time he fought the player clans afterward, he had Xie Yan prepare in advance to transmit painful emotions.

But one thing left a deep impression on him.

When he reversed the pain and transmitted it back to the players, most players instantly lost combat capability and fell into agonized writhing.

Clearly, player clan members had weak tolerance for pain.

Could he exploit this as a breakthrough to create a troop type that inflicted intense agony upon players, making them the players' bane?

The Demon Seed's rules operate by consuming pain and malevolent emotions as energy.

He could build a new troop type around this core.

Regardless of feasibility, he immediately decided to conduct a detailed analysis of the Demon Seed's rules, then attempt to create troops capable of inflicting pain upon players.

"Xie Yan, help me find a malevolent template capable of carrying emotional power."

"ojbk." After Xie Yan responded, countless malevolent statues flooded Di Nian Xie Ling's mind.

One advantage of the Black Tide's full troop system was that any troop template could be found here, if desired.

Soon, Xie Yan listed numerous troop templates available for selection in his mind.

It was evident that emotion-based malevolent troop templates generally had high strength, all above the Ninth Palace.

Before beginning creation, he chose to expend Black Tide energy to conduct a finer analysis of the Demon Seed's rules, seeking to uncover the fundamental logic of pain within the Demon Seed's rules.

Time passed during this research.

Three days later, Di Nian Xie Ling began action, generating troop templates with Xie Yan's aid, combining structures from different troop types.

At this point, he had a clear concept: a legion centered on the Demon Seed, which he named: Tide of Pain.

The Demon Seed absorbed chaotic painful emotions from the small world—despair, anger, sorrow, regret, depression, and more.

Mixed emotions only conflicted; to maximize emotion, only a single option could be elevated.

Half a month later.

Before Di Nian Xie Ling floated five malevolent troop templates.

They were the first troops of the Tide of Pain, each imbued with derived energy of the Demon Seed.

Dispersing the information in his mind, Di Nian Xie Ling opened his eyes and gazed at the first emotion-based troop on the left; relevant data appeared in his mind.

Its form was a slender woman, pale-skinned, half her long hair covering her face, revealing only half a rotting visage.

She wore tattered clothing; beneath her skirt, no hands—only countless writhing black tentacles.

In her arms cradled a child's head, faceless, bound by tentacles, its eyes continuously oozing black tears.

Di Nian Xie Ling named it "Weeping Woman," built around the core emotion of despair.

The troop's original inspiration came from a being of a small world who once waged war against the Black Tide Legion and was ultimately consumed by it.

But the power it displayed intrigued the Black Tide R&D team, who used it as a template to create "Corrosive Woman."

He took this existing malevolent troop template as a base, then fused parts of other troop templates to create Weeping Woman.

The troop's ability feature was emitting a massive-scope psychic shockwave via "Whispering Words."

Any life hearing the "Whispering Words" would be affected by one of the Demon Seed's pain classifications—despair—its consciousness forcibly dragged into the abyss of despair, losing combat capability.

The specific effect depended on whether the target's spiritual strength could counteract the force of despair.

In the future, Weeping Woman would serve as his support troop, never directly engaging in battlefield slaughter, only weakening enemy combat will with mournful songs.

His gaze shifted to the second troop on the left.

It was a charred skeleton inscribed with countless runes, its bone seams flowing with magma-like red light.

Its skull lacked a lower jaw; instead, a grotesque, ear-to-ear gash opened wide, continuously spewing black smoke.

This was a malevolent troop created from a former Catastrophe-system template, its core energy being anger from the Demon Seed's painful emotions.

He named it: Rage Skeleton.

The troop's inspiration drew from the player system's rule-power: Hatred Memory.

This was also the rule-based ability the players had used against him during their first encounter.

At that time, he had personally moved to kill the Black Tide Legion's reserve warriors who had trespassed into his territory, when suddenly a player disrupted his plan.

He still clearly remembered: facing the player's ability, his own anger surged uncontrollably, his mind automatically weaving fabricated memories—this emotion, though brief, was nearly impossible to suppress.

The characteristic of the Pain-type troop "Rage Skeleton" was emitting anger.

Though it could not, like players, generate sustained sources of anger rooted in memory.

But the Wailing Bones can directly transmit their own rage to the target, causing the target to lose control in a frenzy and launch a berserk assault against this Catastrophe-class unit.

The specific effect depends on whether the target's willpower and mental strength can resist the interference of rage.

The gaze shifted to the third unit.

Its form was a tall, slender humanoid draped in tattered burial shrouds, its face masked by a blank visage.

In its hand it held a rusted bronze bell, inside which hung a withered heart; when shaken, it emitted a "thump-thump" sound, like a drumbeat.

Floating behind it were several translucent wraiths, chained like shadowy prisoners, inseparable from it.

This unit, Di Nian named it: Bellbearer of the Dirge.

Its initial template came from a Destruction-class unit, modified by integrating parts of other unit templates.

It is an auxiliary unit similar to the Weeping Maiden, capable of emitting psychic sound waves by ringing the bell, plunging all targets within range into a state of persistent despair, alternating with the Weeping Maiden's hopelessness to erode enemy morale.

The gaze swept toward the fourth unit.

This unit, it named: Regret Spider-Mother.

Its form was a grotesque half-human, half-spider creature: the upper body a pale female torso, the lower body a rotting spider abdomen.

Its eight legs were stitched from twisted white bones; inside its transparent abdomen curled countless miniature wraiths—the souls of beings it had devoured.

The unit's original template came from a great-world race that once clashed with the Black Tide: the Spider-Mother Clan.

This race exhibited exceptional combat prowess; after being utterly consumed by the Black Tide, it entered the selection pool for Corrupted Units.

On this Plague-class unit template, it incorporated the "regret" emotion from the Demon Seed's classification of painful emotions.

Any target entangled in its silk would sink into endless regret, reliving past mistakes and unbearable guilt until, overwhelmed by rising regret, it collapsed.

The gaze swept toward the final unit.

This was the strongest unit in the Painful Tide system at present: Dread Maw.

The unit stood three meters tall, its neck adorned with a necklace of skulls, its body wrapped in chains, its hollow eye sockets burning with crimson flames.

Its body was not flesh, but composed of purple mist, within which twisted limbs and agonized faces flickered faintly—as if countless tormented souls screamed and struggled inside, ready to burst free from the mist's restraint.

This was a new unit crafted from an original Apocalypse-class unit template.

It possessed formidable close-combat prowess; targets struck by its chains were slowly corroded by fear.

This was also the origin of its name: Dread Maw.

Di Nian's evil spirit retracted its gaze and nodded in satisfaction.

The Painful Tide system was preliminarily complete; after simulated warfare tests under the environment of the underground first layer, all five new units performed exceptionally on the battlefield.

Perhaps their lethality was inferior to equivalent Corrupted Units, but in terms of revulsion, they surpassed even the Plague-class.

Imagining the player race writhing and screaming under the onslaught of the Painful Tide, its lips slowly curled upward.

"Laozi, it's done!"

"Test it in combat?" The Evil Eye's voice echoed in its ear.

"Exactly what I intended." Di Nian's evil spirit nodded; its consciousness instantly detached from the Palace of Destruction and returned to the Gao Ta platform.

The moment it opened its eyes, the Black Tide surged eastward under its will.

Previously, players sought it out, and it responded passively; if they didn't come, it had no idea where their stronghold lay.

Thus, its combat test targets could only be other factions in the Monster World.

Soon, the surging Black Tide crossed the domain once ruled by giant beasts and pushed further east.

Trees withered rapidly, rocks turned to dust… forests, hills, and alien ruins all crumbled and rotted the instant they touched the black mist.

Among them were many living beings.

At the vanguard of the Black Tide.

Five figures of the Painful Tide units—Weeping Maiden, Wailing Bones, Bellbearer of the Dirge, Regret Spider-Mother, Dread Maw—emerged through the mist.

Then more replicated Painful Tide units flooded forth in waves.

Yet throughout its advance, the Black Tide never encountered any substantial alien faction.

They were crushed instantly upon contact, offering no fierce, evenly matched combat, and thus could not test the real battlefield performance of the Painful Tide units.

The environment ahead began to change anew.

Vegetation dwindled; fine snowflakes drifted from the sky.

As the Black Tide surged onward, the falling snow grew heavier.

The earth gradually became blanketed in pure ice and snow; where the Black Tide passed, biting winds howled and dissolved within the black mist.

The once-clear sky was slowly replaced by dazzling auroras.

"Di Nian, I sense clusters of life signatures."

At that moment, the Evil Eye's voice sounded in its mind.

It promptly directed the Black Tide toward the direction marked by the Evil Eye.

But when Di Nian's evil spirit pushed the Black Tide to the marked location, the scene before it left it stunned.

Its perception spread, covering the snowy battlefield.

It saw a group of player members with pitiful combat ability rolling and brawling on the snow with purple-skinned creatures clearly modeled after the Black Tide system.

Farther away, it saw purple-skinned insectoid units tearing at player members on the snow.

The unfamiliar war scene under its perception exceeded Di Nian's evil spirit's wildest imagination.

Same battlefield. Same Black Tide, player race, combat insectoids.

Yet the intensity bore an indescribable gap.

Looking down from its perception, Di Nian's evil spirit was utterly bewildered:

"What… what the hell is this?"

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(End of this chapter)